


Between the Stars

by mjules



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-13
Updated: 2012-04-13
Packaged: 2017-11-03 14:44:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/382467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjules/pseuds/mjules
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on the kinkmeme asking for Shepard/Cortez sexytimes in the shuttle bay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Stars

It’s 0300 ship time when Shepard groans and admits defeat, reaching for his datapad. Sleep is a monster stalking him these days, always there in the heaviness of his bones but always out of reach when he goes hunting it. He checks his messages first, ignoring the official ones, reading the spam ones because they amuse him.

Then he sees the one at 0238 from Lieutenant Cortez and pauses, pulse suddenly jumping in his throat. He bites the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling like an idiot when he opens it.

_Can’t sleep. If you’re awake, could use some company. Shuttle bay._

He’s on his feet before he finishes reading the message, drops the datapad on the bed and reaches for his pants and the white t-shirt he wears under his jacket. It’s likely he and Steve aren’t the only crew members awake, and possibly not even the only ones wandering the ship. Otherwise he’d have half a mind to just march down there in his underwear. He imagines Steve’s expression if he did, and grins. It’s almost worth it.

He’s the only one in the elevator, and the ride down to the shuttle bay seems to take forever.

“EDI,” he says just before the doors open. “Don’t let anyone come down here until I say so, unless it’s an emergency.”

“Yes, Shepard,” she responds coolly. He knows he’s not imagining the mischief in her voice when she adds, “Would you like me to take the armory’s security cameras offline, or would you prefer I direct their feed to your omni-tool’s recorder?”

He stumbles, nearly chokes, and waits for the inevitable _That was a joke._ It doesn’t come. “Uh…”

“Very well,” she responds, as if he’d given her a command. “The files will be locked to your biological signature. Good night, Shepard.”

“ _EDI_.” She ignores him, and the doors slide open. He hates that he already knows he’s going to check his omni-tool when he gets back to his room, just to see. Surely she wouldn’t… No, she definitely would.

Steve’s at the procurement interface, wearing the headset that streams music from his omni-tool, and Shepard pauses to watch, grinning, as Steve wiggles his hips in time to the beat. Shepard creeps closer until he can hear faint notes. It sounds like something from Earth’s late twentieth century: tinny pop and thin melodies, but even Shepard admits they have a bounce.

He slides his hands onto Steve’s hips, nimble enough to avoid the barely checked soldier’s impulse of an elbow to his stomach, and nuzzles the side of his neck when Steve half-turns to get a good look at him.

“You should know better than to sneak up on a man like that,” Steve says, but it’s light and warm. He hits a few buttons on the console and the headset fades away. “You got my message, I see.”

“I did.” Shepard places a soft kiss just under his ear. “While I was all alone in my cold, empty bed.” Another kiss just to prove that he’s not mad. Steve doesn’t stay the night all the time, and Shepard is trying to make sure he has the space he needs, but he won’t lie. He likes it best when he wakes up to Steve’s arm across his stomach, one muscular brown thigh trapping his legs. Steve’s a cuddler, and Shepard is beginning to see the appeal.

“What, no buxom beauties to keep you warm?” Steve teases, and Shepard jostles him playfully.

“If you’re so concerned about my personal comfort, maybe you should do something about it.”

“I’m right here.” Steve’s voice drops to that low, velvety register that makes Shepard’s knees go weak. “Maybe we should.”

Shepard relaxes his grip on Steve’s hips enough that the man can turn to face him and lean back against the console. Steve grins as he loops his arms around Shepard’s neck, and Shepard can’t help but return it. Their smiles meet and then they’re too busy kissing to smile, Shepard sliding his hands from Steve’s hips to the small of his back, Steve pulling him closer.

They’re both breathing a little harder when Shepard breaks the kiss, nuzzling down Steve’s jaw to his ear. “You know,” he murmurs, “you could have made it a little easier and worn something other than your _uniform_.” He skims his palm up Steve’s side to emphasize the trouble and feels Steve laugh against his neck.

“I have to make you work for it somehow.” A small tremor works its way through Steve’s body as Shepard pushes his fingertips past the waistband of Steve’s pants. “God knows I don’t any other way.”

Shepard laughs and kisses his neck. “Oh, you mean that’s not why you were down here in the armory all by yourself instead of in my bed?” He pulls back enough to meet Steve’s eyes and lowers his voice. “You know the lock on my door is programmed to let you in anytime.”

The twitch of surprise on Steve’s face tells Shepard he _didn’t_ know that, actually, but before Shepard can say anything else, Steve is kissing him, with intent now, and Shepard’s not stupid enough to stop that. The insistent tug on the fly of his pants happens before he expects it, and the bite to his lower lip makes him shiver.

“Here?” Shepard asks, although he was expecting it from the moment he got the message on his datapad. 

“Oh yeah.” Steve’s got both their pants open now, and Shepard grunts when he takes them both together in one rough brown hand. “I spend a lot of time down here thinking about you, Shepard.” He grins, white teeth flashing in the low light. “I have a _lot_ of fantasies to fulfill that involve you, me, and this console.” He tightens his grip and Shepard can’t help the way his head tilts back. “And the shuttle. And the floor.”

“Ambitious,” Shepard pants, then groans as Steve leans forward to place a biting, sucking kiss on his bared throat. “We’d better get started.”

They’re clumsy as they undress each other, too busy trying to touch and kiss to get buckles and straps unfastened efficiently. They push the bare minimum of cloth out of the way, and then Steve’s back is pressed warmly against Shepard’s belly. There’s antiviral barrier gel for both of them, and then there’s nothing but a sharp, familiar pressure as Shepard pushes into him. It steals his breath, leaves him trembling, and Shepard has to rest his forehead against Steve’s shoulder and catch his breath.

Steve’s exhale sounds halfway to a laugh, and he reaches back to cup Shepard’s head in his palm. “Missed you,” he says, and Shepard can’t find the words to respond. It’s only been roughly an earth-day since they slept curled around each other in Shepard’s bed, bare skin on bare skin, but it’s been a day full of near-death moments, long arguments, and hard decisions.

“I missed you too,” Shepard says, and when Steve turns to try to kiss him, he pushes deeper to meet the gesture and they both groan. His hips take up the motion, and Steve lets go of him to brace himself on the console with both hands, meeting Shepard’s thrusts.

Shepard locks one arm over Steve’s stomach, steadying them both, while the other slides up his chest to hook over his shoulder. He can’t get much momentum in this position, plastered against Steve’s back, but it’s worth it to feel every stuttered breath and the pulsar thrum of his heart as Shepard rocks into him.

Their clothes are sticking to them with sweat and Shepard is panting with effort, teeth bared against Steve’s neck, when he feels the shift below him, Steve letting Shepard take his weight so he can reach down to grip himself.

“Yeah,” Shepard breathes. “C’mon.” Steve jerks, and Shepard can feel the tension in his muscles, the motion of his arm against Shepard’s arm still holding him upright. “Do it, Steve.” He kisses Steve’s neck, fucking him harder now, and murmurs, “For me.”

Steve shouts loud enough to echo off the armory walls, arching in Shepard’s arms, trailing off into whimpers as Shepard ducks his head and lets himself go. Steve reaches back and grips his hip, hand trembling as he holds Shepard inside while he finishes.

They stay that way, braced against the console, breathing hard, until they have enough strength to step away, to stand on their own. Steve turns to face him, and Shepard cups his jaw.

“I need a shower.” He grins at Steve. “And I hear the one in my cabin has room for two.”

Steve tilts his head into Shepard’s touch, eyelids fluttering for a moment before he turns enough to kiss Shepard’s palm before he steps back and tugs his shirt down. “I hear your bed does too. Any truth to that rumor?”

“Maybe.” He glances up through his eyelashes as he refastens his pants. “One way to find out.”

Steve chuckles and gestures ahead of him. “Lead on, Commander.”


End file.
